Noida Labour Protests Reflect Long Simmering Unease Of Working Class
The working class has been feeling the distress due to several issues, including the shortage of life essentials caused by the US-Iran war, writes Krishnanand
Published : April 14, 2026 at 6:48 PM IST
Hyderabad: Long-simmering frustration and helplessness of the country’s working class that burst out in the open in the Noida industrial cluster of Uttar Pradesh on Monday is not an isolated instance. The working class has been feeling the distress due to the rising commodity prices, increasing cost of living, and finally, the shortage of life essentials such as cooking gas (LPG) caused by the US-Iran war broke its back, resulting in widespread protests across states.
Noida protests that erupted on Monday stunned the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh, which, on the one hand, cracked down on the protesters and, on the other hand, also tried to address the underlying root cause by announcing an interim hike in the statutory minimum wages applicable in the state.
On Monday (April 13), thousands of factory workers from dozens of units across Noida’s industrial belt protested, demanding better working conditions and an immediate hike in their wages. It resulted in rioting and arson as dozens of vehicles were torched in the ensuing clashes between police and workers.
According to reports, Uttar Pradesh Police have arrested around 350 people in the Noida industrial belt for causing arson. The police are also probing the involvement of outsiders and vested interests, as they announced that more than 50 social media handles were created in the last 24 hours before the violence and arson broke out on Monday.
On the other hand, the Uttar Pradesh Government also instructed the State’s Labour Department to resolve the dispute between workers and employers on a priority basis to prevent the spread of unrest in other areas of the state.
“All the labour department officials at the district level have been instructed to keep an eye on the possibility of any fresh protest in their respective districts and intervene immediately if they sense that workers are planning a protest,” a person familiar with the matter told ETV Bharat.
According to officials, as an interim measure, unskilled workers in Noida and Ghaziabad will receive a 21 per cent increase in their wages, followed by a 15 per cent increase for workers employed in municipal areas. While workers employed in other districts will receive an increase of 9 per cent in their minimum wages, which has been made applicable retrospectively from the 1st of April this year.
The minimum monthly wage for unskilled workers in Uttar Pradesh was set at Rs 11,313 per month. However, after Monday’s hike, this minimum wage rate for unskilled workers has been increased to Rs 13,690 for workers employed in Gautam Buddha Nagar (Noida and Greater Noida) and Ghaziabad districts.
The new minimum monthly wage rate for unskilled workers has been set at Rs 13,006 per month for municipal areas, and for the rest of the state, it has been set at Rs 12,356 per month.
However, these are interim measures as a wage board is in the process of revising the wage rates at the national level under the newly implemented four labour codes that were notified in November last year.
Uttar Pradesh government’s wage hike comes in the wake of the revision of the minimum wage hike in neighbouring Haryana, which also revised the wage rates following workers’ unrest in Panipat and Manesar districts.
After a gap of more than 10 years, the Naib Saini Government in Haryana hiked the minimum wages from 1st of April this year. Now the basic monthly minimum wage for unskilled workers in Haryana has been set at Rs 15,220.71.
Haryana vs Uttar Pradesh: Wage rates after hike
Unlike Haryana, the UP government has divided the state into three parts for an interim wage hike. Even after the hike, the minimum wage for unskilled workers in the Noida-Ghaziabad industrial belt is 10 per cent lower than the minimum wage for unskilled workers in Haryana.
The difference goes up to 14.54 per cent and 19 per cent, respectively, for wages applicable for unskilled workers in municipal towns and other districts of Uttar Pradesh in comparison with the minimum unskilled wage rate for Haryana.
Haryana has increased the minimum wage for highly skilled workers to Rs 19,425 a month.
Not an isolated incident or state-specific labour unrest
Noida labour unrest is not an isolated instance of labour unrest. Noida industrial belt unrest followed in the footsteps of labour unrests witnessed across three states in the preceding two months, i.e. February and March this year.
Labour Unrest in Barauni, Bihar
In early February this year, workers in the industrial town of Barauni in Bihar resorted to protest for better working conditions and improved wages. They demanded PF coverage, Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) benefits and enforcement of an 8-hour a day working regime.
Workers Unrest at Panipat, Haryana
The simmering labour tension did not confine to the less developed state of Bihar. Within weeks, workers at Indian Oil Corporation’s Panipat refinery also resorted to protests to press for their demands for better working conditions.
Labour Unrest Spreads to Manesar, Faridabad in Haryana
Panipat refinery protests were followed by unrest in other industrial towns of Haryana, such as Manesar and Faridabad, where automobile or auto ancillary units are located.
It forced the Naib Singh Saini government to announce an approximately 35 per cent increase in the minimum wages in the state.
Workers Protest in Surat, Gujarat
The news of Haryana's minimum wage hike triggered protests in other states as well. On February 27, thousands of contract workers of Larsen & Toubro working at the ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel project site at Hazira in Surat in Gujarat staged violent protests. Several police personnel were injured in the ensuing violence.
According to a trade union leader in Uttar Pradesh, who declined to be named, workers in the Noida industrial belt and other areas of the state got the news of Haryana unrest and subsequent wage rate hike through news reports and created their informal networks to press for similar benefits for themselves.
He, however, did not rule out the involvement of outsiders in the Noida unrest.
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